Fine-tuned Universe
Fine-tuned Universe
“Why the beginning of the Universe should have been exactly like this is very difficult to explain except as the act of God, who wanted to create living beings like us.” the famous astrophysicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, stated in his book “A Brief History of Time”.
The structure of our world contains such fundamental quantities, the slightest change of which implies the absolute impossibility of the appearance of everything that we now observe: from microbes and viruses to clusters of galaxies.
Scientists describe the set of such patterns as the “fine-tuned Universe.” Everything is really so finely and harmoniously arranged that the word “created” suggests itself.
“It is amazing that the values of such quantities were apparently very precisely chosen to ensure the possibility of the development of life,” Stephen Hawking marvels. As an example, he gives several such patterns.
“Why did the Universe begin to expand at a rate so close to the critical, so that even now, ten thousand million years later, the Universe continues to expand at a rate approximately equal to the critical rate? If, a second after the big bang, the expansion rate had been even one hundred thousand millionth (1/100,000,000,000,000,000) less, then the Universe would have re-compressed, and it would never have reached its current state,” writes the scientist.
“The laws of science as we know them now contain many fundamental quantities, such as the electric charge of an electron and the ratio of the mass of a proton to the mass of an electron... If, for example, the electric charge of an electron was slightly different, stars would either not burn hydrogen and helium would either not explode,” concludes Stephen Hawking.
In fact, humanity has long paid attention to the amazing complexity and harmony of living beings and inanimate objects. The only question is whether we have the courage to admit to ourselves that behind all this we see the boundless strength and power of the Creator, or whether we, rejecting the obvious facts, will enter the path of slippery and streamlined turns. Take, for example, the hackneyed and used phrase “nature created” by everyone and everywhere. There are so many questions in it that you would need to write an entire book to answer.
And who is nature? Why is she creating something? And who created nature itself? Is there only one such “nature” or do we have many “creators”?
However, questions are asked not only by people, but of people as well. Thus, for example, in the Holy Book of Muslims, the Koran, there is a sura, which is translated as “Event”, dedicated to the Day of Judgment. In the same sura, Almighty Allah asks five questions at once, thinking about which makes us consider about the structure of the world around us. Here are the questions (i.e. the meaning of the commentary):
- “Have you considered what you ejaculate? Is it you who create (a child out of) it, or is it We Who do so?” (Sura Al-Waqi’ah, ayat 58-59).
– “Have you considered what you sow? Is it you who cause it to grow, or is it We Who do so?” (Sura Al-Waqi’ah, ayat 63-64).
- “Have you considered the water you drink? Is it you who bring it down from the clouds, or is it We Who do so? If We willed, We could make it salty. Will you not then give thanks?” (Sura Al-Waqi’ah, ayat 68-70).
- “Have you considered the fire you kindle? Is it you who produce its trees, or is it We Who do so?” (Sura Al-Waqi’ah, ayat 71-72).
- “Now, if you are not subject to Our Will (as you claim), bring that soul back, if what you say is true.” (Sura Al-Waqi’ah, ayat 86-87).
For today let us just think about them, and in the next issues, God willing, we will try to examine each of them in more detail. Reflection on the structure of the world and everything that is in it is the path of knowing the Creator and oneself.
